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Local Control of Aquatic Resources: Community and Ecology in Lake Titicaca, Peru
Author(s) -
Levieil Dominique P.,
Orlove Benjamin
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1990.92.2.02a00070
Subject(s) - geography , fishing , ecology , abundance (ecology) , biology
All 151 fishing communities in Lake Titicaca, Peru, maintain and defend communally controlled fishing territories. Environmental factors, particularly the slope of the lake bottom and the presence and abundance of aquatic vegetation, influence the distribution of the three types of such territories, which differ in the area they cover and in the maximum depth of water they contain. A cost‐benefit model L employed to explain this spatial patterning. This study emphasizes the interactions between aquatic and terrestrial resources. It discusses the conflicts between the formal legal codes of the Peruvian state and the informal regulations of peasant communities. It argues for a refining of the terminology used to describe and analyze common‐property resources.